And just like that he's 1!Dan and I are in shock and awe mode of where God has taken our family over the past 365 days. It seems like just yesterday we were holding a fragile 6 lb. 14 oz. baby boy and now we have a toddler literally running around our apartment! God continues to teach us so much through our journey into parenthood and we know we have so much yet to learn. We can't thank God enough for the joy, laughter, and antics that have been introduced to our lives through this precious little person who truly lives up to his name's meaning, "God is gracious."
Having celebrated monthly Jackson's growth, the ONE YEAR mark had to be an amped up celebration. What better way to celebrate than with family and we were blessed to have Grandma Jean AND our resident cupcake expert Aunt Julie fly in from Florida for the big day. (Grandpa Jim of course really wanted to be here too and we were totally bummed he couldn't make the trip.)
I tried to think of things that Jackson would appreciate at his age and I think we succeeded. Julie helped me by making some tissue paper pom-poms, Mom & I picked up some balloons, and we hung the birthday banner that Dad had made for Jackson. While Jackson napped, we decorated and the big reveal came when he woke up.
Here's the reaction:
After a birthday lunch of "num-nums," Grandma Jean, Aunt Julie, and I took Jackson out to the country for a birthday photo shoot. It took some cajoling in the bright sunlight to get Jackson to look towards the camera for the grand finale of the Watch Me Grow first year series. I like how it turned out.
That evening once Dan was home from work Jackson opened a few gifts, including the Leap Frog LeapTop we gave him (since he is always desperately trying to snatch a few keystrokes on our own laptop). 
Grandma made her famous "Melting Chocolate Cake" which was probably more for my pleasure than the birthday boy's. Dan wanted to wait for the upcoming birthday party on Saturday so as not to cheat our guests of viewing Jackson's first cake eating experience. Poor Jackson was bummed to get just another teaser taste of frosting and no cake. Psyche! (Don't worry...he would make up for it on Saturday.)
Fast-forward to Saturday morning. The weatherman had promised rain all day but we had invited 50 people to come celebrate with us at the local park and with no back-up accommodations there was a lot of praying for sunshine going on! God blesses us in abundance! The sun came up bright on early on Saturday as did I, rushing at 7 AM to stake my claim on the last available park shelter. While Dan was at work and Jackson napped, we took carloads of decor, food, and supplies to the park and readied for what turned out to be one amazing party!It was such a beautiful way to cap off Jackson's first year of life, surrounded by 50 family members and friends who have had such a big hand in his life so far. We are truly blessed by God to have such amazing people in our son's life. Jackson enjoyed his celebration from start to finish, especially the finish. When it came to first birthday messes, he "took the cake"....literally!
Here are some of my favorite photo highlights from the day:
To view more photos, click here to view our Picasa album.
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